Tirol has a good name when it comes to promoting talent: Tour bronze medallist Florian Lipowitz, Giro stage winner Georg Steinhauser and German champion Georg Zimmermann celebrated their first successes in the Team Tirol jersey and thus recommended themselves for a professional career. Now this opportunity is also available to young women. The Tirol Women Cycling Team was presented today in Insbruck. It has a licence as a UCI Conti team and is currently the only international women's cycling team based in Austria.
Springboard to the World Tour
The team is intended to be a springboard into professional cycling. The racing team is based on a new club founded in November 2025. "The team will remain a Continental team, but will be the base and springboard for the World Tour," emphasises project manager Florian Kapeller. The World Tour is the highest racing series in world cycling. Tyrolean riders such as siblings Christina and Kathrin Schweinberger are already competing there. The aim of the new team is to give local talent the opportunity to gain experience in international races.
Focus on home-grown talent
The figurehead of the team is Tyrolean Tabea Huys. Last season, she was signed to the junior team of the Australian World Tour team Jayco AlUla. "It's a great opportunity for me to develop further. From now on, I will concentrate fully on cycling and put triathlon on the back burner. I want to be on the World Tour and that's where my focus is now," says Huys. The 20-year-old racer, who was born in Hall in Tyrol, has already celebrated a stage win in the UCI Tour Gracia (category 2.2). The squad also includes the Austrians Franziska Ehrenreich (Salzburg), Ramona Griesser, Belinda Holzer (both Tyrol), Jennifer Pesendorfer (Styria) as well as Amalie Cooper (Great Britain), Nela Kankovska (Czech Republic), Jana Meus (Germany), Linda Sanarini (Italy) and Liv Wenzel (Luxembourg).
Synergies between the men's and women's teams
In Tirol, there are synergies in the promotion of young talent for men and women. "The team shares the service course with the men's team and benefits from the long history of the Tirol KTM Cycling Team. Some of the staff work in both organisations. Using synergies is the credo," emphasises Kapeller. The roots of the new project lie with the Union Raiffeisen Radteam Tirol.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
